Voting in the General Election

Thursday 18 May 2017
gvsmith9

A message from your Officer Trustees regarding the upcoming General Election:

The last day to register to vote is 22 May. According to some sources, only 36% of young voters voted in the EU referendum, the repercussions of which you may have already felt (interestingly, this is the same figure as the 2017 leadership elections).

Many students can vote, yet have not registered to do so. The result of this would be that students cannot cast a vote which will have a major impact on their lives, including their experiences over the course of their degree. Why should you leave it to other people to decide how your country is run? You may be busy with exams, worried about jobs, but when you leave university the world which you enter will be decided by the decisions made by the population today.

Imagine the heart-wrenching regret you’d feel if voter apathy in our student union elections had led to a successful candidate with a manifesto pledge to remove curly fries from the menu? Imagine this, but on a bigger scale, with consequences that will affect you once you leave Imperial.

Your vote is private; you choose to exercise your civic right and responsibility on your political opinions alone. So register and read up (but be critical), because it’s time to start engaging with politics regardless of your enthusiasm, if not for you but for the combined voice of all young people.